''Sumo'' is a 2025 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

-language

sports comedy film A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport or a sports-related topic is prominently featured or is a focus of the plot. De ...

directed by S. P. Hosimin, starring

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

Priya Anand Priya Anand (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian actress and model who predominantly appears in Tamil language, Tamil films. She has also appeared in a few Telugu language, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam films. After pursuing higher s ...

and Yoshinori Tashiro with

VTV Ganesh Ganesh Janardhanan, also known by his stage name VTV Ganesh'','' is an Indian actor and producer who works in Tamil and Telugu films. He is best known for his raspy voice, and appearances in films featuring Silambarasan. He made his debut in t ...

Yogi Babu Yogi Babu (born 22 July 1985) is an Indian actor and comedian, who appears in Tamil films. He has won Ananda Vikatan Cinema Award for '' Aandavan Kattalai'' (2016), '' Kolamavu Kokila'' (2018), '' Pariyerum Perumal'' (2018), '' Love Today'' ( ...

and

Sathish Sathish Muthukrishnan (born 23 May 1987) is an Indian actor and comedian working in the Tamil cinema. He made a breakthrough portraying a role alongside Sivakarthikeyan in '' Ethir Neechal'' (2013). He won Edison Award for Best Comedian for h ...

in supporting roles. The film was produced by Ishari K. Ganesh under his Vels Film International banner with the technical team consisting of cinematographer

Rajiv Menon Rajiv Menon (born 20 April 1963) is an Indian filmmaker who has worked as a director and cinematographer in several Indian regional film industries. After making his breakthrough as a film cinematographer with Mani Ratnam's Tamil drama ''Bombay' ...

, editor

Praveen K. L. Kuchipudi Latha Praveen (born 1987 or 1988)Vaibhav Shastry"Would love to work with Anurag Kashyap: Praveen K L" ''Times of India, March 11, 2012. is an Indian film editor, who works predominantly in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and English f ...

and composer Nivas K. Prasanna. ''Sumo'' was released in theatres on 25 April 2025 to mixed-to-positive reviews.

Plot

A sumo wrestler washes ashore near Chennai and is befriended by locals. After comedic misadventures, they help him return to Japan to fight for his championship title and rediscover his past.

Cast

Production

In mid-June 2019, the production began for Shiva's next film helmed by S. P. Hosimin. The film reunites the lead actor with

as the female lead after ''

Vanakkam Chennai ''Vanakkam Chennai'' () is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi, in her debut. Produced by her husband Udhayanidhi Stalin of Red Giant Movies, the film stars Shiva and Priya Anand, whi ...

'' (2013), while Yoshinori Tashiro, a former

Sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

wrestler plays an important role in the film. Eighteen other Sumo wrestlers also star in the film. Apart from acting, Shiva wrote the screenplay, handled the casting and scouted locations for the film.

, a cinematographer-cum-director, agreed to work on the film since Hosimin had previously worked under him as an assistant.

handled the editing. The film has music composed by Nivas K. Prasanna and produced by Ishari K. Ganesh under his Vels Film International banner. The film also stars

, Chetan,

Besant Ravi Besant Ravi (born R. Ravi Kumar; 1 June 1970) is an Indian actor and stunt choreographer. He has played antagonistic supporting roles in Tamil, Hindi and several other Indian language films. Early life Besant Ravi, who was born and brought up ...

, Srinath and others in supporting roles. A major portion of the

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

took place in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The release of a trailer in April 2025 confirmed the inclusion of

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is composed by Nivas K. Prasanna. The first single "Aazhiye" released on 21 April 2025.

Release

Theatrical

''Sumo'' was released in theatres on 25 April 2025. The film was initially expected to release in theatres in 2021 but got delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and after much of a delay, in late-September 2024, it was announced that the film would release in October 2024, without mentioning a specific date, which did not pan out. In early April 2025, the final release date was announced.

Home media

''Sumo'' began streaming on

Sun NXT Sun NXT (read as "Sun Next") is an Indian subscription video on demand over-the-top streaming service run by Sun TV Network. It was launched in June 2017 and has content in six languages - Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi a ...

from 23 May 2025.

Critical response

Abhinav Subramanian of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote "The comedy offers sporadic chuckles but doesn't consistently land with impact. The screenplay lacks a certain spark; events unfold, but often without exploring the culture clash or character depths beyond a surface level." Avinash Ramachandran of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote "With the strength of the film seemingly lying in comedy, the detours into emotional zones, and some serious zones are distracting at best, and infuriating at their worst. It is almost like the makers can't decide what to do with the simple one-liner, and fill it up with embellishments that only disengage us." Narayani M of ''

Cinema Express ''Cinema Express'' was an Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language entertainment fortnightly magazine published from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was a part of The New Indian Express, The New Indian Express Group, which also publishes ''Samakalika Mal ...

'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote "The film's failure to resonate with audiences could be attributed to its datedness as ''Sumo'' was scheduled to be released almost five years ago. However, even as our tastes and sensibilities evolve over time, we still crave certain fundamental things like emotional connection and entertainment." Anusha Sundar of ''

OTTPlay HT Media is an Indian mass media company based in Delhi. It has holdings in print, electronic and digital media. HT Media's flagship newspaper is the ''Hindustan Times'', the second most widely read English newspaper in India after ''The Times of ...

'' gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "''Sumo'' has been put together to be a sports comedy entertainer. Neither does it delve into the sports aspect, nor is able to make you laugh. If you don't count the body shaming jokes, the film more or less treats sumo only as an exhibit, expected to pique curiosity." ''

News Today ''News Today'' is an English language evening daily newspaper in Chennai, India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by a ...

'' wrote, "If you're looking for an easy watch that brings together laughter and emotions, this one is worth your time. Let go of logic, and enjoy the ride with Shiva and his sumo friend".

References

External links

* *{{Rotten Tomatoes 2020s Indian films 2020s sports comedy films 2020s Tamil-language films 2025 films Films directed by S. P. Hosimin Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films produced by Ishari K. Ganesh Films scored by Nivas K. Prasanna Films set in Japan Films shot in Japan Indian sports comedy films Japan in non-Japanese culture Sumo films Tamil-language comedy films Tamil-language Indian films Tamil-language sports films